The Grundy County Coroner’s Office is releasing an update into the cold case investigation of an unidentified homicide victim from 1976.
On October 2, 1976, the body of an African-American-Female, who was estimated to be between fifteen and twenty-seven years of age, was discovered in a ditch, alongside U.S. Route 6 near Holderman Hill, in unincorporated Seneca, Illinois. The victim had been shot in the head and discarded in this rural area. After being unidentified for approximately a month, the victim was buried without her name, in an unmarked grave at the Braceville-Gardner Cemetery in Braceville, Illinois, where she remained, until investigators from the Coroner’s Office exhumed her remains in December of 2018, to utilize modern-day Forensic Science and DNA techniques.
Since May of 2019, the Grundy County Coroner’s Office has been working closely with the DNA Doe Project, an organization that utilizes genetic genealogy to assist in identifying the unidentified.
Throughout the course of months of efforts, the DNA Doe Project has successfully located a close match to Jane Seneca Doe.
Due to an extensive family tree, the Grundy County Coroner’s Office and the DNA Doe Project are requesting the public’s assistance in helping to finally identify Jane Seneca Doe.
The following is the updated information known at this time:
- Jane Seneca Doe was likely born between 1948 and 1960 and would have been missing by October 1976.
- Her parents may have come from Selma, Alabama. One set of grandparents were from Selma, Alabama.
- One of her grandparent’s was likely named Calhoun. One great-grandparent may have been named Harris.
- Other possible areas her relatives reside: Dallas Co. or Wilcox Co., Alabama.
- At least one branch of the family moved to Ohio.
- She may have siblings who were unaware of her existence.
Anyone with any information, which may lead to the identity of Jane Seneca Doe, is urged to contact Deputy Chief Coroner Brandon Johnson of the Grundy County Coroner’s Office at 815-941-3359 or e-mail: [email protected].